REAMDE was a fairly standard, good crime caper / terrorist romp. Think a really good Tom Clancy but with jokes. The science fictional element is fairly small. The story could be happening now. It’s mainly concerned with how MMORPG interact, economically and socially and criminally with real life or Real Life. As Charles Stross says, if your contemporary novels don’t involve some science fictional element then they are really 1960’s novels.

It’s not as baroque and as the Baroque Cycle but it’s fairly convoluted.

I really enjoyed it.